Warriors AU: Skyclan's Destiny

Chapter 34

A paw prodding in her side woke Poppystar; she opened her eyes on glaring orange light that cast thick shadows across her sleeping Clanmates. For a few heartbeats she wasn't sure where she was. Then Stumpy's face came into focus as the brown tabby she-cat bent over her.

"Wake up!" she hissed. "Haze says it's time."

Memory flooded back into Poppystar, of the long journey to the Twolegplace and Haze's promise to show them Swift's camp. She stumbled to her paws, realizing that she had been sleeping with her back pressed against Leafdapple. Her movement woke him, and their eyes met for a moment in embarrassment.

Then Leafdapple leaped up. "I'm ready," he announced.

Urgency swept through Poppystar, overpowering her doubts and pumping energy into her paws. She woke her other Clanmates and led them to where Haze was waiting with Cory and Stumpy.

"Let's go," Haze meowed.

Whipping around, he led the way across the waste ground and down another alley. Poppystar and the other Skyclan cats bounded after him, along alleys and tiny paths that led through piles of split wood and past sleeping monsters, with scarcely a glance to make sure that they wouldn't wake. They passed so close to Twoleg nests that Poppystar's fur brushed against the rough red stone.

Eventually Haze led them up onto the top of a small wooden nest. As Poppystar leaped up, she saw saw him crouching at the far side of the roof, staring down at what lay beyond. She padded across the roof and crouched down beside him. The orange light showed her a pile of square Twoleg things, tumbled together on the bank of the shallow stream that they had crossed on their way into the Twolegplace. Its banks were muddy, with only a sluggish trickle of water at the bottom.

"Those boxes are where Swift lives," Haze told her.

As Poppystar looked more closely, she could make out the shadows of cats slinking between the boxes, and caught the occasional gleam from their eyes. Then a sturdy-looking cat emerged into the open and called out, looking back over his shoulder.

A cheerful chirrup answered him, and a slender she-cat pushed her way out of the nearest box to join him. Although the harsh light drained all the color from their pelts, Poppystar guessed that they were Haze's daughter, Harper, and her mate, Red; she could feel Haze stiffening, and heard a faint snarl coming from the depths of his throat.

It was clear that Harper wasn't a prisoner in Swift's camp; she looked relaxed and happy to be there. With their tails twined together, the two cats strolled across the ditch and vanished into the woods.

Haze had sunk his claws so deeply into the wooden roof that he had to yank them out before he could sit up. His gaze swept over the cats who were crowding up behind him. "We'll attack now," he growled.

"Wait." Cory stepped forward, his ears flicking anxiously. "What about Cinder, Winter, and Tracy?"

"Go fetch them," Haze directed. "If we wait until tomorrow night, Swift will know there are strangers here, and she might be on her guard."

Fallowfern leaned over to murmur into Poppystar's ear. "He wants to attack while his daughter is out of the camp."

Poppystar nodded. She could understand why Haze had made his decision, but she was reluctant to go into battle unprepared. They didn't know anything about the layout of the camp beyond what they could see from the roof of the little den, nor how many cats were inside the boxes.

"Don't worry," Haze mewed, as if he could read her mind. "We'll outnumber them."

His eyes burned with a cold fire; Poppystar shivered, reminding herself that these cats did not live by the warrior code. They'll kill, if that's the only way to win.